I think the fourth season of Harley Quinn has been fine. It's nowhere near as good as the early seasons but almost every episode still manages to make me laugh at least a couple of times. As a season finale I think this episode was really underwhelming. The episode started good with the Joker's villainous family fighting Harley, but the entire episode peaked at its very first scene. The whole story arc of the Joker going back to villainy ends with Harley capturing him off screen and later dragging him around in a leash before tying him up and giving him to Gordon. The Joker has been one of the best parts of this season so it was a shame to see his storyline get "resolved" in such an abrupt way.
Lex Luthor (despite a pretty decent voice performance by the king of memorable villains, Giancarlo Esposito) is probably the least memorable out of all the antagonists in the entire show. He's made up of a few generic, negative, psychotic traits stereotypical to evil businessmen and he never feels like a distinct character. This in turn makes Harley and Ivy's successful attempt at beating him feel pretty boring and unexciting.
There's no big fight sequence or anything of the equivalent to finish off this season. Ivy tries to catch Lex with her vines leading to him simply slicing them off in the most boring way possible. They defeat Lex after a "car chase" where Harley and Ivy drive a moon vehicle as Lex just kind of follows them in a visually identical vehicle at a small distance. The sequence ends with Lex's vehicle being hacked by Batgirl causing him to drive into a crater after which Steppenwolf (a character that has barely been in the show) takes him away. After that Harley and Ivy shoot some death beams at earth and a few explosions are shown. There's no memorable action whatsoever in this episode.
A thing that the show in general, but especially this episode struggles with is the balance between classic Harley Quinn insanity and (maybe) almost trying to make some point about the real world. I think the show is at its best when it combines serious character moments with the insane world that it has built for itself. Trying to make actual societal critique or include messages related to the real world in this format is practically impossible and I think the show should have abstained from doing so altogether. The show is occasionally implied to be a retelling of events by Harley, justifying its sincere thoughts on the world mixed with over the top stupidity and craziness but it's never made clear enough to where you're really sure wether it's the writers or Harley herself trying to make a point.
I didn't really like the final scene and the setup for the next season either. Catwoman's relationship to Harley, Ivy and Barbara had almost no build up. We have been shown that Catwoman has started taking somewhat of a liking to Bruce Wayne/Batman after he gave himself up and stood up for his crimes. It hasn't been much (her giving Martha's pearls to Bruce and giving him a gift in prison in the Valentine's Day special) but at least there is some buildup there. Catwoman showing up out of nowhere and starting the birds of prey was not only kind of jarring but it also makes me concerned about the next season. The show has felt a little lacking after Harley's original crew split up and I'm glad its is going back to focus on a bigger ensemble again. However I don't think that the writers could have possibly selected worse characters to make up the new crew.
For starters, Harley and Ivy's relationship is surprisingly healthy and aside from communication errors and smaller arguments there isn't much tension there for the story to revolve around. The show's interpretation of Catwoman is a pretty flat and boring one considering the source material. I was started to get slightly invested in her arc when her empathy seemed to be woken up by Bruce going to prison but the show just kind of left her after that. To finish off their glorious team we have Barbara Gordon, the most normal, bland and boring character in the entire series. This is possibly the worst setup for a next season that the show could have gone with. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a good season about these four, but the writers are going to have to put in an extreme amount of work if it's even going to come close to the greatness of the early adventures of Harley, Ivy, Clayface, King Shark, Sy and Doctor Psycho.
All in all I still quite like the show and I'm glad it's getting another season but this finale was a real disappointment. There are some memorable moments from this season (Lex blowing up his calves, Bane going to Italy, The Joker's evil but otherwise normal family and the Legion of Doom's initial reaction to getting a female boss being some of them) but it's nowhere near the greatness of the early days of the show. I hope they take their time with the next season and really put in the effort to get the show back on track.
Lex Luthor (despite a pretty decent voice performance by the king of memorable villains, Giancarlo Esposito) is probably the least memorable out of all the antagonists in the entire show. He's made up of a few generic, negative, psychotic traits stereotypical to evil businessmen and he never feels like a distinct character. This in turn makes Harley and Ivy's successful attempt at beating him feel pretty boring and unexciting.
There's no big fight sequence or anything of the equivalent to finish off this season. Ivy tries to catch Lex with her vines leading to him simply slicing them off in the most boring way possible. They defeat Lex after a "car chase" where Harley and Ivy drive a moon vehicle as Lex just kind of follows them in a visually identical vehicle at a small distance. The sequence ends with Lex's vehicle being hacked by Batgirl causing him to drive into a crater after which Steppenwolf (a character that has barely been in the show) takes him away. After that Harley and Ivy shoot some death beams at earth and a few explosions are shown. There's no memorable action whatsoever in this episode.
A thing that the show in general, but especially this episode struggles with is the balance between classic Harley Quinn insanity and (maybe) almost trying to make some point about the real world. I think the show is at its best when it combines serious character moments with the insane world that it has built for itself. Trying to make actual societal critique or include messages related to the real world in this format is practically impossible and I think the show should have abstained from doing so altogether. The show is occasionally implied to be a retelling of events by Harley, justifying its sincere thoughts on the world mixed with over the top stupidity and craziness but it's never made clear enough to where you're really sure wether it's the writers or Harley herself trying to make a point.
I didn't really like the final scene and the setup for the next season either. Catwoman's relationship to Harley, Ivy and Barbara had almost no build up. We have been shown that Catwoman has started taking somewhat of a liking to Bruce Wayne/Batman after he gave himself up and stood up for his crimes. It hasn't been much (her giving Martha's pearls to Bruce and giving him a gift in prison in the Valentine's Day special) but at least there is some buildup there. Catwoman showing up out of nowhere and starting the birds of prey was not only kind of jarring but it also makes me concerned about the next season. The show has felt a little lacking after Harley's original crew split up and I'm glad its is going back to focus on a bigger ensemble again. However I don't think that the writers could have possibly selected worse characters to make up the new crew.
For starters, Harley and Ivy's relationship is surprisingly healthy and aside from communication errors and smaller arguments there isn't much tension there for the story to revolve around. The show's interpretation of Catwoman is a pretty flat and boring one considering the source material. I was started to get slightly invested in her arc when her empathy seemed to be woken up by Bruce going to prison but the show just kind of left her after that. To finish off their glorious team we have Barbara Gordon, the most normal, bland and boring character in the entire series. This is possibly the worst setup for a next season that the show could have gone with. I'm not saying it's impossible to make a good season about these four, but the writers are going to have to put in an extreme amount of work if it's even going to come close to the greatness of the early adventures of Harley, Ivy, Clayface, King Shark, Sy and Doctor Psycho.
All in all I still quite like the show and I'm glad it's getting another season but this finale was a real disappointment. There are some memorable moments from this season (Lex blowing up his calves, Bane going to Italy, The Joker's evil but otherwise normal family and the Legion of Doom's initial reaction to getting a female boss being some of them) but it's nowhere near the greatness of the early days of the show. I hope they take their time with the next season and really put in the effort to get the show back on track.
